Regent Watercooler! Off topic and non-cruise discussion here!

[Host Dan]

Ok folks, lets give this a try!  Please keep posts "clean", non-political, and just plain fun!!

 

Enjoy

 

email- prs68@aol.com

[Mudhen]

Has anyone had any experience flying Emirates Business Class? Considering giving them a try....

[Travelcat2]

 

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

I found this fun photo from our Renaissance cruise in 1999. Inaugural year! On R1...from Athens to Istanbul. 
Sheila and Herb

Edited May 26, 2020 by Bellaggio Cruisers

[NORTOM]

1 hour ago, Mudhen said:

Has anyone had any experience flying Emirates Business Class? Considering giving them a try....

Emirates Business Class is great.  There is a lounge in the back. Remember the Jennifer Anniston commercials. 

[Travelcat2]

For those of you not cruising this year, what type of vacation will you be taking?  For us, if we do not cruise in November, we may find a cave somewhere and hibernate until this is over with.

[Brownie54]

We flew Emirates Business class in 2017 from Dulles to Dubai and then again in 2018 from Dulles to Capetown, connecting through Dubai. Each flight was fantastic in the best airplane seating I’ve ever had. In addition, we live in Baltimore, and Emirates arranged for a car service to pick us up here and drive us to Dulles (included in the price). Each trip was the beginning of a Regent cruise, but we made the air arrangements ourselves. Highly recommend!

[Brownie54]

We still have reservations in September on Explorer for 3 segments, but I’m not overly optimistic that will happen. 
We are still in “stay at home” mode here in Baltimore (in the city), so not much happening in our neighborhood other than take-out from some restaurants.

We also have a condo in Vermont, but any out of state visitors  coming in have to self-quarantine for 14 days before venturing out.

My husband’s family has a cottage in upstate NY, an 8 hour drive away. Maybe?

Staying home may be the best option!

 

Stay safe!

[cerise638]

Great flying from Heathrow.  Boarded straight from the business class lounge.  Qatar A380 suites are even better for Asia and Australia from the UK. Avoids Dubai which can have delays and is very spread out

[cerise638]

18 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

For those of you not cruising this year, what type of vacation will you be taking?  For us, if we do not cruise in November, we may find a cave somewhere and hibernate until this is over with.

If I can't cruise in November I might come and join you.  We need to find a cave that will allow social distancing, internet access so we can be alerted if a cruise becomes viable and a good store of gin, vodka and Veuve Cliquot

[Travelcat2]

20 minutes ago, cerise638 said:

If I can't cruise in November I might come and join you.  We need to find a cave that will allow social distancing, internet access so we can be alerted if a cruise becomes viable and a good store of gin, vodka and Veuve Cliquot

 

I like the way that you think.  How could I have forgotten internet and booze (especially Veuve Cliquot!  I'm so used to social distancing and am glad that I can still hug my cats (and my DH).

 

P.S.  Thank you for starting the thread asking about the WaterCooler and to Host Dan for getting it going!

Edited May 26, 2020 by Travelcat2

[seaknots]

4 hours ago, Host Dan said:

Please keep posts "clean", non-political, and just plain fun!!

contradiction? 🤣

[UUNetBill]

Well, we usually discuss football around our water cooler, but that’s not much of an option yet...

 

FWIW, we just chose our excursions last week for our Jan ‘21 cruise.  Still a lot of variables in the equation but it’s fun to look anyhow.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

1 hour ago, Brownie54 said:

My husband’s family has a cottage in upstate NY, an 8 hour drive away. Maybe?

Staying home may be the best option!

 

That's where we are at too.  Safe in our condo in Toronto.  Cottagers who go north of the city are being discouraged from going, although now that the weather is warm, many are.  

 

Our cottage, however, is 5 hours northeast, near Ottawa, not really traditional "cottage country".  Usually I spend most of the summer there.  I've never NOT opened it by this time in the spring, it feels wrong!  There are advantages to the city--highspeed internet, health services a cab ride away, proximity to stores, but other than that most of the other advantages have been taken away--restaurants, bars, music venues, special events and festivals.  So right now, I'm waiting for the blackflies to go away (they are fierce this year), and the mosquitoes to simmer down, then that's where I'll want to be (I'm hoping I can convince David of that.)

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

Wendy....

we still have our plans do our annual fishing outing in Loughborough, just north of Kingston, at the end of July. 
Fingers crossed🤞that the border opens so we can make the trip this year. 
sheila

[forgap]

During the quarantine I’ve discovered that I’m an introvert.  I like staying home, I like gardening, I like the lack of obligation most of all.   We have expanded our bubble to include our best friends who live in NC.  We all are very cognizant of the lengths we must go to to keep healthy.   Despite our state opening up, we continue to keep social distance, wear masks, sanitize everything coming into the house, including our hands.  
 

We have a cottage in North Georgia and we have decided that hikes and picnics will be our “vacation” this year.   I’ll leave my first post in the water-cooler with a video of cool water - Minihaha Falls near Lake Burton, Georgia.  

[Zqueeze1]

Well let’s see this thread flourish and stay on a positive note. My first thoughts about what to write from my perspective are all the funny things that have happened to me while cruising. Nothing wrong with a little self-deprecating humor to keep it light. 
Looking forward to see how this thread goes. 
Z and TB

[Wendy The Wanderer]

1 hour ago, Bellaggio Cruisers said:

Wendy....

we still have our plans do our annual fishing outing in Loughborough, just north of Kingston, at the end of July. 
Fingers crossed🤞that the border opens so we can make the trip this year. 
sheila

 

Fingers crossed for you, Sheila!  I had to look this up on Google Maps.   Pretty area--we've driven through a couple of times on our way to our cottage, which is northwest of Ottawa, almost due north of you, probably a couple of hours away. We drive through Sharbot Lake all the time going up there.

[Sheltieluv]

Greetings!  We live "across" from your cottage, on the South shore of Lake Ontario near Oswego, N.Y.  We like taking the car ferry to Wolfe Island from Cape Vincent.  Haven't been to Kingston in a while tho.  My husband loves to walleye fish in the area.

Two weeks ago it was snowing, and today it's 85.  Gotta love Central New York!

[Brownie54]

So the family cottage in upstate NY is actually on an island in the St. Lawrence River near Alexandria Bay, so not too far from you, Sheltieluv! Although we now live in Baltimore, I grew up near Syracuse and my husband is from Rochester. We met at St. Lawrence a long time ago!

We love going to Kingston for the day and taking the Wolfe Island ferry back. Happy memories with our kids, who are now in their 30’s and married.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

1 hour ago, Sheltieluv said:

Two weeks ago it was snowing, and today it's 85.  Gotta love Central New York!

 

Yeh, here in Toronto we've gone from heating to air conditioning in less than a week.  We have a heat emergency in effect right now.

[Sheltieluv]

Brownie54, I grew up on a farm about 45 minutes from Canton and graduated from Canton College, and then SUNY Albany.  I spent my summers during college working in Kodak Park in Rochester.  

We love Alex Bay and visited Boldt Castle this past fall.  We hadn't been there in years and were amazed at the renovations.  My husband also used to enjoy scuba diving in the St. Lawrence River.  Brrrr, 55 degree water!

It's a small world, isn't it?!

[Sheltieluv]

Wendy, we are sweltering here too.  No cool lake breeze tonight!

[jeb_bud]

6 hours ago, Travelcat2 said:

For those of you not cruising this year, what type of vacation will you be taking?  For us, if we do not cruise in November, we may find a cave somewhere and hibernate until this is over with.

We are still hoping to cruise in October. If that doesn’t happen our plan B is a road trip through the southern Utah national parks, if the parks are open and lodging and dining are available. 

[Travelcat2]

1 hour ago, jeb_bud said:

We are still hoping to cruise in October. If that doesn’t happen our plan B is a road trip through the southern Utah national parks, if the parks are open and lodging and dining are available. 

 

Hopefully your cruise will sail.  A road trip to Utah would likely be a beautiful drive that time of the year.  I’m still mildly concerned about flying.  There are times that I wish that we could put a bubble over our heads so we would be protected.  Of course, this would not help with being able to eat or drink.  Our daughter wants to fly up here from L.A. in August but she would have to promise me that she would wear a mask and not eat or drink anything on the plane (guess that I’ll always be an over-protected mother).

 

Like forgap, I’m fairly okay being at home as I am not a very social person (except when we are onboard a Regent ship and are catching up with the crew.) 

They are so special that it is difficult not to love them.    

 

From the sound of things, we are fortunate to live on the West Coast.  To me, 85 degrees is really hot.  We’re going to have a heatwave for two days but it is only expected to be around 75 (in Northern Washington state).

 

I’m finding this thread so interesting.  It is giving us an insight into each other’s lives.  We have “known” each other (via CC) for a long time but know so little about anything beyond our love for cruising.